I will be the first one to admit that I'm a self-proclaimed Chicago snob. I firmly believe that Chicago, Illinois is the greatest city in the United States and would defend it until I'm Cubbie Blue in the face. Recent events, however, have forced me to contemplate leaving the Windy City and replanting some roots in the Buckeye State. This past weekend was my first real dive into the Cleveland horror scene and I have to say, it's a pretty incestuously wonderful place to be. I spent the weekend crashing at the pad of horror enthusiast (and DotW favorite),
Zach Shildwachter. I don't have any pictures of it, but trust me when I say his place is a fankid's dream home. One of the major things that attracts me to a city and its film scene has to do with the accessibility of finding them. I've been to my fair share of Record Exchanges, but the Cleveland Record Exchange was massive. Unrealistically massive. Without the insane price markups of Cook County, IL, the two of us were able to nab quite a huge haul of films.
As the two of us debated on what should have been included on the Roger Corman collection, we were approached by a worker who was willing to discuss god-awful horror movies with us. He generated a very welcoming atmosphere and it was nice to find solace with someone who understood why we found
Shadowzone to be a worthy purchase amongst an entire store full of people looking to pawn off their rejected Tyler Perry collections. The following day was a real treat as we were joined by
The Blood Sprayer's founder Wes Allen, his beautiful wife, and adorable spawn. The first half of the visit was spent debating horror movies, discussing the awesome people in the horror blogosphere, and a mask fashion show led by Zach and Mini-Allen. Living at home with my parents when I'm not away at school has been extremely difficult on having some quality horror bonding time. The Allen clan didn't come over just for shits and gigs, we had far more interesting plans ahead of us.
In order to properly prepare for the evening ahead, we needed to transform out of our normal flesh suits and into something a bit more undead. Thanks to Zach Shildwachter's incredible knack for special effects makeup and a love of all things zombie, he was able to transform four adults into four very different and contrasting in progression zombies. He started with Wes who dons a beard of epic proportions, giving a little less room of flesh to work with. Zach did such a great job, many of Wes' facebook comments on the picture included people asking what the hell happened to him. Wes' wife Ashley was given a zombie bite beginning to mutate her skin, I was given a simple and classic hollowed out look, and Zach donned some contacts and black blood --his most recent obsession. The looks we received on the way to the event, priceless.
The reason for all of the zombie makeup? OldSchool Sinema's Zombie Bowling, of course! From what I have been gathering,
OldSchool Sinema is the major distributor of all of the zombie-centric events around the greater Cleveland area. Home of the best in NEW exploitation/grindhouse/horror/B-Movie/
| cult/underground cinema, host of the Cleveland charity ZOMBIE WALK (every spring and fall), and of the Sinema Sirens (Pin-ups, scream queens), Oldschool Sinema is growing bigger and stronger. The crew rented out the basement level of Mahalls 20 Lanes, and for 10 dollars we were treated to unlimited bowling. Zombies and Toys was there to provide plenty of zombie collectibles for purchase and tons fun memorabilia. There was also alcohol and surprisingly wonderful grub. |
The main reason I trekked out to Ohio was actually to enjoy the world premiere of the short film
I AM ALIVE by J Buckner. (Review will come tomorrow!) The film was shown along with a handful of other shorts that The Studio On Mars productions have come up with and held the event at the outstanding venue,
The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern. The turn out was massive and it just goes to show what a strong support system the Cleveland film scene has. The author of the story in which the short film was based off of even drove up from Omaha, Nebraska to see the film. I was very impressed with the set up and more impressed with the environment than anything. Everyone at the event was wanting to be there and better yet, was excited to be there.
All and all, maybe Hawthorne Heights had it right.
Ohio is totally for lovers.
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